Tag Archives: Hot Topics

The tide has now turned as to house prices Last month I wrote that the FHFA showed evidence that house prices had peaked, and that “since the FHFA has a tendency to turn slightly ahead of the Case Shiller index, this strongly suggests that a sharp deceleration in the Case Shiller index YoY will start within a month or two.”  That was borne out in this morning’s reports for August house prices. The FHFA purchase only index, which is...

October 25, 2022, Heather Cox Richardson, (substack.com). There are quotes, and then there are quotes. Tonight, in the debate between Democratic candidate John Fetterman and Republican candidate Mehmet Oz as part of their campaigns to replace Republican Pennsylvania senator Pat Toomey, who is retiring, Oz said he wanted abortion decisions to be made by “women, doctors, local political leaders, letting the democracy that’s always allowed our...

Quite a few varying articles in healthcare and other topics this week. Pfizer is hoping to make a killing on it mRNA vaccine, shots are approved for 6 months to five-years of age, Medicare Advantage plans, and Novartis is back again with a cancer drug. A COA has blocked student loan relief, lots of talk about housing being blown-up, etc. Is business struggling over the last two years? Read about GM’s spectacular 3rd qtr, 2022. The bottom 50% of...

November 1st is the start of the official 2023 ACA Open Enrollment Period (OEP) for anyone who needs quality, affordable healthcare coverage. Charles Gaba at ACA Signups has a very detailed rundown on what is happening this year. Because of President Biden, there have been improvements to the ACA. What I have done below is a brief rundown of Charles Gaba’s Open Enrollment post. It is not as detailed as his post. If you are serious about using the...

How can this be?  September 28, 2022, we have Senator Bernie Sanders tweeting (I don’t, guess I need to eat some bird seed). The obscene level of income and wealth inequality in America is a profoundly moral issue that we cannot continue to ignore or sweep under the rug. A society cannot sustain itself when so few have so much while so many have so little. Here is Bernie’s findings as supplied by the Congressional Budget Office. Note the dark...

When will housing construction turn down? A fuller consideration  – by New Deal democrat No important economic news today. Also I am traveling this week, so there might be some light posting, as in, I might skip a day or two. But I very much want to see what is happening with house prices, which will be updated tomorrow in the FHFA and Case Shiller indexes, and Wednesday as part of the new home sales release. In the meantime, after I posted...

Coronavirus dashboard for October 21: the autumn lull continues, despite new subvariants  – by New Deal democrat No economic data today, so let’s update the status of COVID-19. We are currently in a relative lull, with confirmed cases, hospitalizations, and deaths all near or at low levels only matched or exceeded at mid-year 2021 and early spring of this year. Here is the 6 month view of confirmed cases and deaths: At the moment...

“They can only “win” by cheating …,” Homeless on the High Desert, Ten Bears. October 7, 2022 in g’da said Your Daily Chaos, Morning Digest: Elections ~ Here’s something you don’t see often—or ever: Republican Mike Erickson released an internal poll showing him leading his Democratic opponent, Andrea Salinas, the very same day that he filed a lawsuit demanding Salinas take down an attack ad by citing a law that he recently threatened to use to...

September existing home sales and prices decline  – by New Deal democrat With the exception of their big impact on prices, I do not particularly pay attention to existing home sales. Their economic impact is small compared with the construction of new homes; at best they add confirmation to a trend in new home sales, permits, and starts. In September, existing home sales did continue to decline, by 2%, to 4.71 million units annualized (Note:...

With regard to the Albertson – Kroger merger.   CEPR’s Eileen Appelman discusses a private equity profit scheme involving the Kroger/Albertsons grocery megamerger. Albertsons will pay out about a third of its market value to its former private equity owners and investors in November as part of the merger with Kroger. The large payment sets up Albertsons for bankruptcy which Kroger can use to defend the merger. Appelbaum” “‘Albertson’s...